Death of a Friend
by elisheva
Summary: Even Horatio is not immune when tragedy strikes close to him


**AN: Nothing belongs to me except the plot line...**

Horatio Caine and Eric Delko walked solemnly towards the crime scene that was laid out in front of them. Eric groaned softly as he saw the body of a young girl posed in a grotesque manner.

"Do you see that, Eric?" his boss asked him, pulling his sunglasses from his eyes, squinted in the Miami glare.

"Looks like she has been dead for a while, H. Rigor mortis has set in."

Horatio shook his head. "No. There, beside her."

Eric frowned. "I don't see anything."

The older man raised a faint eyebrow at him. "And you call yourself an investigator, Eric."

"What am I missing, H?"

"Beside the body," he repeated. "What do you see?"

Eric peered closer at the ground. "All I see is a pair of sunglasses."

"Exactly, Eric. Someone has carelessly discarded some sunglasses. I need a small body bag."

"What?"

"Now, Eric! There is no time to lose." Horatio Caine bent down to carefully pick up the sunglasses. As he did so an earpiece hung askew and Horatio looked positively green. As Delco took the glasses from Caine and placed them in a small evidence bag Horatio excused himself and barely made it to the bushes before he emptied his stomach.

* * *

Horatio walked into the morgue with purpose in his step. He greeted his ME by name. "Alexx. I need you to handle an autopsy with top priority."

The attractive woman nodded at him. "I am still waiting for the body of that little girl. It's always such a shame when tragedy strikes so young."

"Here. I brought the body with me." He presented her the bag that contained the broken shades.

Alexx looked closely at Horatio. "Are you ok?"

He pounded the empty table with his bare hand. "Damnit, Alexx. I just hate to see the innocent murdered. Call me when you have the report." He left the room before the ME could say more.

* * *

"Calleigh," greeted Horatio as he entered the lab. "Do we have a suspect yet?"

She gestured to the machine in front of her. "I was examining the bullet found in the victim and I--"

"No, Calleigh," Horatio interrupted. "The other murder."

She pushed her blond ponytail behind her. "What other murder?"

"I transported the body myself."

"Oh," she said, nothing else coming to mind.

"I want this bastard found...as quickly as possible."

She nodded. "Yes, child murders are the scum of the earth."

"There has been more than one senseless death today."

"Horatio, are you all right?"

"I will be once I find this bastard and nail his ass to the wall." Horatio studied Calleigh for a moment before suddenly turning his head in confusion. "Do you hear that?"

She looked around, not hearing anything out of the ordinary. "Hear what?"

"The Who. They are being too loud, Calleigh." Horatio's cell beeped before anything else could be said.

* * *

"Alexx, please tell me you found something useful."

"Horatio, the child came in mere moments behind you and I found--"

"Why will no one listen? There is a top priority case here and--"

The ME interrupted him by holding up her slender hand. "I found a loose screw."

"Mr. Wolfe!" came Horatio's loud voice, calling another one of his team members. "Run this through IBIS."

Ryan Wolfe looked at the object and then up at his boss. "It's a screw."

"Run it, Mr. Wolfe. Call me if anything comes up."

"I have this bullet to run through and then I will run that screw."

"Run the screw, Mr. Wolfe. Don't make me tell you again. Got that?"

* * *

Horatio Caine followed the evidence chain to the local Walmart, quickly finding the aisle of sunglasses near the jewelry counter. Frustrated at the lack of help Horatio bagged all the sunglasses and took them to the precinct.

Detective Frank Tripp stopped him as he exited a holding cell. "What's going on here?"

Horatio threw his thumb behind him. "Giving me the silent treatment," he explained. "Let's see what twelve hours of observation does to them."

"Uh, Horatio, you can't question twenty pairs of sunglasses."

"Even they aren't exempt from the long earpieces of the law, Frank."

* * *

Eric called Horatio as soon as it was confirmed. "H, we've got a partial on the sunglasses."

"Well, thank God. Who did it? We have to concentrate on righting the travesty of broken glasses."

"We think it might point to the murderer of the girl."

"The girl will hold. This is more important. What have we got?"

"AFIS has a match. Clavo Cruz."

"He will not get away with this," Horatio swore. "I promise I will see him ended. I will arrest him for the murder of my friend. I don't care who he's helped. I will bring this bastard down."

Horatio was ready to go on his hunt to catch Clavo but there was one thing he had to do first. That evening there was a sound of faint thunder as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Before him sat a shoebox that held the sunglasses so wrongly used. He said a silently prayer and then placed the box carefully in the small hole he made. "You, my friend, did not die in vein."


End file.
